This is one of those situations where I'm amazed that it's still legally acceptable to vote on a hate amendment. Like, if we were voting to make black marriage illegal, would people stand for that? If we required an intelligence test, or enforced procreation...would people stand for that? Yeah. Wonderful.
I am similarly surprised. In my neck of the woods, that treads the line of hate speech. One would likely end up going to court and either paying a fine or possibly serving a short jail sentence.
I have asked a few American friends about this, but the most I can get is a somewhat smug "First Amendment".
I'm rather aghast myself. If a little over 50% of everyone thinks people with quality X should be stripped and tarred, it's on, baby! This is why all the business about "activist" judges is bullshit - part of the reason for our system's design is to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
Because, let's be honest, given the opportunity to fuck over another group, the majority of people will take it (even if it's only 50%+1). Gay marriage is the most obvious example, but it can be taken to ludicrous lengths - let us take an example from Florida's ballot this year:
Among the more unusual measures on this year’s ballots was one in Florida that would repeal an old clause in the state constitution that allows legislators to bar Asian immigrants from owning land. The repeal would be symbolic, as equal protection laws would prevent lawmakers from applying the ban. With 78 percent of precincts reporting just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, the vote was close, with 52 percent voting to preserve the clause.
People aren't pretty when they're grieving, and sometimes they say stupid things. Sometimes it's easier to blame a convenient scapegoat than to admit to yourself that just a titch more than one person in two doesn't think your love is valid and worth celebrating with a lifelong commitment and the rights and responsibilities that come with that commitment.
That doesn't make it right. It's a wrong statement that needs to be corrected. But I can understand people being irrational in their grief.
(edit: Not specifically at you, jooj. And in case what I said leaves it ambiguous, I'm suggesting an explanation, not an excuse.)
I agree that a lot of it is grieving. But part of it is similar to the cycle of abuse - abusive dad has a bad day at work, comes home and hits his kid, the kid goes out and bullies someone else. I'm not hearing rage at the elderly, or at people who make less than a certain amount of money, yet both of those groups also voted "yes" more than average. As with the housing crisis, though there are many factors involved, one is being singled out for a far greater share of blame than it deserves. Not okay.
And there's a reason why the gay and African-American communities have somewhat, let us say, attenuated ties - just as the women's movement was seen as primarily a white middle-class women's movement, the march for gay and lesbian rights often leaves behind gay and lesbian people who aren't white.
And yes, I can understand people being irrational, too. But letting this anger firm up into an unofficial 'story of what happened with prop 8 - blame the blacks' is a real danger, and one that can only do everyone harm.
Well said, and thank you. An offline friend of ours mentioned something along these lines yesterday, and I was a bit horrified to hear the words coming out of his mouth. (even though apparently he was just parroting what he'd heard elsewhere)
When we got home on election day, there was a robocall on our answering machine from Bernice King telling us, in so many words, that her father's dream could not be fulfilled unless California passed Proposition 8. Thinking of it still saddens me -- it feels like a foreshadowing. And yet: do we then extrapolate this instance of a black leader pitting blacks against gays into some kind of homophobic consensus among all blacks? Of course not.
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I have asked a few American friends about this, but the most I can get is a somewhat smug "First Amendment".
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Because, let's be honest, given the opportunity to fuck over another group, the majority of people will take it (even if it's only 50%+1). Gay marriage is the most obvious example, but it can be taken to ludicrous lengths - let us take an example from Florida's ballot this year:
Among the more unusual measures on this year’s ballots was one in Florida that would repeal an old clause in the state constitution that allows legislators to bar Asian immigrants from owning land. The repeal would be symbolic, as equal protection laws would prevent lawmakers from applying the ban. With 78 percent of precincts reporting just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, the vote was close, with 52 percent voting to preserve the clause.
(from the NYT.)
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That doesn't make it right. It's a wrong statement that needs to be corrected. But I can understand people being irrational in their grief.
(edit: Not specifically at you, jooj. And in case what I said leaves it ambiguous, I'm suggesting an explanation, not an excuse.)
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And there's a reason why the gay and African-American communities have somewhat, let us say, attenuated ties - just as the women's movement was seen as primarily a white middle-class women's movement, the march for gay and lesbian rights often leaves behind gay and lesbian people who aren't white.
And yes, I can understand people being irrational, too. But letting this anger firm up into an unofficial 'story of what happened with prop 8 - blame the blacks' is a real danger, and one that can only do everyone harm.
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An offline friend of ours mentioned something along these lines yesterday, and I was a bit horrified to hear the words coming out of his mouth. (even though apparently he was just parroting what he'd heard elsewhere)
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